Douglass Church - Douglass Blvd Christian Church

Our passage this morning about the new Jerusalem doesn’t say that God’s home is among mortals … except for, you know, the Muslims, or the atheists, or the Republicans (or Democrats, depending on your politics). God doesn’t say, 'This place would be just perfect if we could get rid of the people who live on the other side of town, if we could just check papers for the undocumented, or the hoodlums, or St. Louis Cardinals fans (😉).' God says, 'Ok, so it’s a fixer-upper. I’ll take it. I’m going to do a little renovation anyway, but the neighborhood is just exactly my kind of people.' Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

So when Jesus asks, “What do you want me to do for you?” I’m pretty sure I know how to respond. “This or that,” I think, is what will enable me better to follow Jesus “on the way.” A little tuck here, a pinch off there, and I’ll be good as new. I don’t need much. Already in pretty good shape. But what if Jesus’ vision of what I need is different? What if Jesus sees a completely different road from the one I’ve been trained to expect? What if following Jesus is being given eyes to see that what formerly looked like failure is precisely the path down which I’ve been called? Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

What the disciples demonstrate they don’t understand about Jesus’ mission has less to do with whether or not it will come true, but what it might mean if it does come true. What do I mean? Simply this: the disciples ask to have important positions alongside the new messiah, to be included in all the grand happenings after Jesus comes into his glory. They assume they know exactly what that glory will look like. That they don’t grasp Jesus is going to be killed as a common criminal demonstrates that they don’t really comprehend what kind of glory Jesus is going to come into—a kind of 'glory' to which nobody aspires. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

In the young man’s search to inherit eternal life, Jesus shows him that he needs the poor just as much as they need him. So, when the young man walks away dejected, it’s not only because he can’t bear to part with his stuff. Part of what drives him away is the thought of letting go of a system in which he has few needs, in favor of a system in which the powerless are on equal footing, a system in which the rich looking to inherit eternal life need the poor ... as much as the poor looking for an equitable community where everyone has enough need the rich. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

Jesus argues that God set down the law as a way of establishing a community whose primary purpose is to protect those who are often too defenseless to stand against the way the world is ordered. In other words, Jesus offers a vision of God’s reign that turns the taken-for-grantedness of those who are privileged on its head, and stands beside those who are too easily trampled by folks at the top of the food chain. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

According to James, we’re not called to believe the right things, say the right things, or have the right bumper stickers on our cars. According to James, our job is live like Jesus asked us to live. Simple. Do the things Jesus did and people will see Jesus standing right in front of them. Feed the hungry, clothe the naked, house the homeless, bind up the broken-hearted, give voice to those who have no voice, sing with those who sing, mourn with those who mourn, heal the sick, pray and cry and laugh and confess your sins—because Lord knows we’ve all got plenty to confess. And the miracle of it is, when the church begins to act like Jesus—it’s its own best advertisement. And we don’t do any of those things because by doing them we’ll be successful, attract hoards of young families pulling trailers full of cash into our parking lot. We live like Jesus because it’s the right thing to do—because Jesus asked us to. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc

Jesus isn’t talking about some subjective experience, some inconvenience, like being near-sighted or having an uncle whose an overbearing loudmouth nobody wants to sit next to at Thanksgiving dinner. The cross is something we decide to bear, something we take up, not some physical infirmity, our aches and pains. This is a voluntary thing, not something thrust upon us by genetics or lack of aptitude or just sheer bad luck—things over which we have no control. The crosses we bear, like Jesus before us, have to do with the consequences we suffer in our determination not to stay silent in the face of injustice, with the pain and suffering we embrace as those who try to live like Jesus by saying “yes” to the vulnerable and the destitute, while saying “no” to those who operate the machinery of the death-dealing systems of domination. Subscribe to us on iTunes! Sermon text: web | doc